The present invention relates to an endoscope apparatus mainly used in the industrial field, the endoscope apparatus being inserted into a space which is a target of inspection such as an inside of a pipe, the endoscope apparatus observing a site inside the space or an internal state thereof.
In general, in an endoscope apparatus for industrial use, a frontal operating portion 160 is linked with a proximal end part of an elongated insert portion 161 to be inserted into a space which is a target of inspection such as the inside of a pipe, as shown in FIG. 47. As such an example, there is shown an exemplary configuration in which a head portion (not shown) is provided at the most distal end part side of the insert portion, the head portion having incorporated therein an observation optical system for observation, an illustration optical system and the like. Further, a flexibly bending portion which can be bent in an arbitrary vertical or horizontal direction is provided at the rear of the head portion. A plurality of, for example, four flexibly bending operation wires are extended to a frontal side (to a proximal end part) from a distal end of the flexibly bending portion. These flexibly bending operation wires are linked with a flexibly bending operation mechanism (not shown) provided at the frontal operating portion 160.
An operating knob 163 for driving the flexibly bending operation mechanism and operating the flexibly bending portion to be bent is provided at this operating portion 160. By operation of this operating knob 163, the flexibly bending operation mechanism is driven, each flexibly bending operation wire is pulled, and the flexibly bending portion is operated to be flexibly bent.
An internal channel (manipulating device inserting channel) for inserting a manipulating device such as forceps therein is provided at the insert portion of the endoscope. A distal operating end of the internal channel is formed at the head portion of the insert portion 161.
A forceps opening (proximal opening end) 162 of this internal channel is provided at the operating portion 161. An operating portion main body 164 having the operating knob 163 or the like provided thereat, and a grip portion 165 that is gripped by a user are provided at the operating portion 160. Then, it is often that the forceps opening 162 of the internal channel is disposed at the grip portion 165 of the operating portion 160 as shown in FIG. 47, or the forceps opening is disposed at a terminal portion of the operating portion main body 164 of an operating portion 166 as shown in FIG. 48.
In recent years, with advancement of electrically driving of a flexibly bending mechanism, as its flexible bending input means, the manual operating knob 163 may be replaced with electrically driven flexibly bending input means such as a joystick 167 disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,373,317, for example. This joystick 167 generates a signal corresponding to a tilt angle of the flexibly bending portion. However, at the operating portion main body disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,373,317, a motor or monitor for electrically driven bending is disposed, and thus, the operating portion main body is heavy in weight and is large in size, which means that an operator is easily tired. It is not necessary that operating input means is always provided at the operating portion 160 (166) at the rear end side of the insert portion 161.
Because of this, flexibly bending input means such as a joystick 167 is considered to be provided independently in a place other than the operating portion 160 (166) at the rear end side of the insert portion 161. In this case, when an attempt is made to carry out only a flexibly bending operation when the endoscope apparatus is used, the joystick 167 is operated in a place other than the operating portion 160 (166), whereby the insert portion 161. may be gripped at an arbitrary position. In addition, when an attempt is made to carry out only a forceps operation, the forceps may be operated at the forceps opening 162 or in the vicinity thereof in a state in which the grip portion 165 of the operating portion 160 ((166) is gripped.
However, as in a conventionally configured apparatus, when the joystick 167 and operating portion 160 (166) are present in different places from each other, an operation of the joystick 167 and a forceps operation from the forceps opening 162 are carried out individually in different places from each other. Thus, an operation of the conventional endoscope apparatus shown in FIGS. 47 and 48 cannot be carried out. Therefore, the joystick 167 and forceps opening 162 must be disposed such that their respective operations do not interfere with each other in such a range that an operator's hand reaches.
In addition, in the conventionally configured endoscope apparatus, an operator always grips an operating portion during inspection of the endoscope apparatus. Since the operator always supports the mass of this operating portion, he/she feels fatigue as a work time increases. For example, in an endoscope apparatus for industrial use, an elongated insert portion is used in order to inspect a deep part of plant, for example, via an endoscope. The operator supports the mass of the apparatus, and thus, the operator's burden increases more significantly.
In endoscope inspection, an advancing/retracting operation or a twisting operation of the insert portion is an important work. In these works, the operator always grips the operating portion by one hand, and operates the insert portion by the other hand. In this situation, since both hands of the operator cannot be used, the operator cannot carry out other operations, for example, an operation for inserting a manipulating device into a forceps opening of the operating portion. As a result, operation by two or more operators is carried out, and is poor in usability.